


Ever a Surprise

by AyraBelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Beauty and the Beast AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 08:25:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11642697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyraBelle/pseuds/AyraBelle
Summary: Certain as the sunRising in the EastTale as old as timeSong as old as rhymeBeauty and the Beast





	Ever a Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Lance!  
>  ~~This was supposed to be something short for his birthday, and yet here we are.~~

Lance had never really fit in the small town where he lived, but he didn’t mind that. He had a best friend and that was enough for him.

That was what he told himself, anyways.

Hunk was the best friend a guy could have in a small-minded town. He wasn’t constantly forcing women at Lance, and he didn’t mind that Lance preferred reading to spending time in the tavern. And even better – Hunk’s family accepted Lance as one of their own. Recently orphaned, Lance missed the feeling of belonging to a family and Hunk allowed him to get close to that feeling again.

In return, Lance supported Hunk and his family in any way that he could. He gave them vegetables from his garden, accepting the occasional meal in return. He helped Hunk with his inventions, sure that one day Hunk’s brilliance would be realized and he would be able to move to the city and make money off of them. The fairs that Hunk entered his contraptions in were a stepping stone to that recognition – and there was one coming up.

Lance was on his way over from the bookstore when he was waylaid by the baker. He knew what was coming, and closed his book with a sigh.

“Good morning, Lance!” the baker greeted him cheerily. “How are you on this fine day?”

“Good morning,” Lance replied. “I’m doing well, just on my way to Hunk’s house.”

“Good, good,” the baker continued, obviously not having paid attention to Lance’s response. “Say, I overheard some of the boys talking last night and the word on the street is that you don’t have anyone accompanying you to the party this evening. My daughter hasn’t had anyone ask to escort her – I’m sure she would be honored if you were to ask her.”

Lance pasted on a smile. “I’m afraid your lovely daughter will have to wait for some other gentleman. I’m not going tonight.” And with a hasty ‘Good day’, Lance stepped around the baker and resumed his reading as he walked to Hunk’s.

It wasn’t that the party wouldn’t be fun, Lance enjoyed chatting with the people of the town and the dancing was always fun. But ever since he had hit prime marriage age – and he still hadn’t figured out what the town even considered that to be – the parties were significantly less fun as the girls turned into objects and the boys turned into possessors. Lance had only ever fancied one of the girls and one of the boys living in the town (a fact that he would never tell anyone), and they had ended up marrying each other and moving away. Lance often wished he could move away but reading and gardening weren’t skills that lent themselves to the sort of income that would be needed to move away. So he remained, content with his garden and books and Hunk.

When he made it to Hunk’s house, Lance was greeted with a wave from one of Hunk's younger siblings and a loud bang from the basement. He walked quickly to the door and flung it open as smoke poured out.

“Hunk? Are you alright?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” Hunks voice responded. Lance followed it to the source, and found Hunk on the floor.

“You gotta be careful,” he told his friend, helping him up. “You got a family to take care of – it would be rude of you to bring Shay in and then leave her on her own.”

Hunk smiled at Lance. “I’m not going anywhere. That was just a test – and now I know what’s wrong. It’ll be fixed just in time for me to leave for the fair tomorrow.”

Lance stuck around to make sure that Hunk really was alright, but he didn’t want to get in the way so he dropped off the vegetables that he brought for them and promised to be back to see Hunk off the next day.

That evening, Lance let himself imagine what it would be like if he lived someplace where he could go to a party and the company wouldn’t be as odious as the current company would be. Someplace where they didn’t mind that he didn’t want to marry someone just because it was what was expected. Where they didn’t think that he was strange for reading as much as he did and having a best friend be an inventor, of all things. It sounded like a lovely place.

The next day, Lance kept his word and returned to Hunk’s to help him load up his cart and hitch his horse. The fair was a two days’ journey, so when the horse returned alone the following day they knew something was wrong.

“What could have happened?” Shay wondered as she calmed the youngest siblings. Lance could tell that she was beyond herself worrying, but she kept that inside so the rest of the family wasn’t frantic. Lance knew that Hunk was their means of survival, and Shay couldn’t leave the others to go looking for him.

“I’ll go find him,” Lance promised. Shay tried to dissuade him, but Lance was adamant. He had to help. So she gave him some food for the journey and made him promise to be careful as he mounted the horse. He promised and gave her a smile, and then he was off.

By the evening, he hadn’t seen anything promising and was wondering whether he should turn around and try again in the morning when his horse started getting skittish. It was Hunk’s horse, and the animal was as steady as his owner. Lance took the skittishness as a sign and forged ahead.

When he first saw the mansion through the trees, he thought it was a castle. For a moment he was confused – how had he never known that there was a castle this close to his town? But as he made it through the trees and into the clearing, he saw that it was only a mansion. Of course, his own home was a small cottage so _only_ a mansion was still a grand sight to behold. Lance had never seen it before, but the grand house was three stories tall and had a marvelous garden in the courtyard. None of these things could hold his attention for long, however, because the horse was scared to the point of bucking and Lance had to scramble off before he was thrown.

“It’s ok,” he promised the horse. “You don’t have to go any further. Just let me go see if they know anything about Hunk and we’ll be gone soon.”

The horse calmed so Lance walked the rest of the way to the front door to knock. There was no answer even though Lance saw candlelight through the windows, so he knocked again. The third time he knocked, he was angry at being ignored but his pounding was cut short when the door swung open.

“It’s about time,” he grumbled, looking to make sure the person opening the door heard. But there was no one there. Lance glanced around a moment before he assumed that the person had simply moved into the shadows and moved further inside.

“Hello?” he called, hearing it echo through the empty halls. “I’m looking for my friend. Did anyone pass through here yesterday?”

There was no answer, but Lance kept seeing flashes of movement in rooms ahead of him so he followed determined to track down whoever lived here and get an answer out of them. He repeatedly asked if anyone was there and if they had seen Hunk, but he got no response other than movement to follow. He briefly wondered if he should be worried about where he was being led when the movement led into a basement, but he didn’t have time to dwell when he heard Hunk’s voice.

“Lance? Is that you?”

“Hunk!” Lance rushed over to the cell door (what kind of house was this?) and tried to open it.

“No use,” Hunk told him. “It’s locked, and I couldn’t pick it. But what are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, of course,” Lance replied, moving so that he could see Hunk’s face. “Shay’s so worried – are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Hunk waved away Lance’s concern. “Just annoyed at being locked up. But Lance – you gotta get out of here. It’s haunted!”

Lance raised his eyebrows at his friend. “Hunk, I’m sure it’s not haunted. This is just some stupid game or something to the owner, I’m sure.” Even as he said it, though, he thought about the door that opened by itself and the movement that he could never quite track the source.

“It’s not a game!” a deep voice interrupted Lance’s thoughts, startling him. He whirled, but all he could see was a dark shape in the dim light of the basement.

“Then what the hell is going on?” Lance demanded, hiding his fear behind a layer of bravado.

“I caught a thief and am keeping him here until he repays his debt,” the voice said, tacking on a growl at the end.

“I didn’t steal!” Hunk insisted. “The food was offered to me; I didn’t see the gardener but he said I could take some.”

The dark shape snorted in derision. “Sure, and I didn’t see a banker but he said I could take the money! How do you think that will go the next time I have to visit a bank?”

“Really?” Lance cut in. “He picked a vegetable and now you’re keeping him here? What kind of justice is that? How long does he have to stay?”

The voice didn’t answer, but Lance got the feeling that Hunk wasn’t going to be released any time soon. He thought of Shay, and Hunk’s thoughts seemed to be moving along that same track.

“Lance, it’s alright – I’ll do whatever time I need to and then I’ll be back home. Could you just tell Shay what’s going on and that I love her?”

“Tell her yourself,” Lance said, turning away from Hunk’s noise of confusion to face the dark shape. “What does he owe? I’ll work to pay it off.”

“No deal,” the voice responded. “You’d have to take his place here.”

“Would you just light a torch or something?” Lance gave in to his annoyance. “I hate talking to someone I can’t actually see!”

There was a moment of silence before Lance heard movement and the flick of a torch being lit. He was not prepared for what he would see with the extra light, though.

A man stood there, though ‘man’ felt like a generous term. Beast was more accurate – purple with cat ears, yellow eyes, and long horns atop his head complete with paws for feet and clawed hands. Lance couldn’t help his gasp and step backwards. Lance had been ready to trade places with Hunk, but this gave him pause.

“I told you,” Hunk muttered. Lance hated the thought of his friend staying here, scared and alone, while his family tried to fend for themselves. This steeled his resolve and he approached the beast.

“I’ll do it,” he said firmly. Despite not having human eyes, Lance could see the surprise in the beast’s eyes.

“You will?”

“No, Lance!” Hunk protested. “You can’t!”

“Hunk, you have a family. I don’t,” Lance insisted. “I’ll be fine. Do we have a deal?” he asked the beast.

There was only a moment of pause before the beast nodded and opened the door. Lance pulled Hunk out and closed the door behind himself as he entered so that Hunk wouldn’t get any ideas. “Give Shay a hug for me, alright?” Hunk looked ready to protest or cry, but the beast grabbed his shirt and dragged him away before he could do either.

Left alone in the dark, the gravity of his situation hit Lance. He was probably going to be stuck here for years, based on how intolerant the beast seemed. He knew that he made the right choice – Hunk had a family that needed him – but that didn’t make the cell any more homey.

Lance wasn’t sure how long he was there before he heard movement outside the cell. Assuming it was someone coming to get him to start working off whatever the debt was, he stood but immediately jumped backwards with a shout when he saw a wooden coat rack opening the door.

“Hello, sir,” the coat rack said with a bow. It was holding a torch in one of its arms, the metal one. Lance looked closely and saw that the ornate carvings formed a face at the top. “My name is Shiro. I’ve come to show you to your room.”

“My– my room?” Lance asked, still peering at the coat rack and assuming he was hallucinating. “Do I not have to stay here?”

The coat rack – Shiro, apparently – waved an arm. Lance ducked reflexively. “Nonsense, it’s cold and uncomfortable down here. Come on, there’s a room ready for you upstairs.”

Shiro started towards the stairs and Lance followed, still feeling dazed and convinced that he would wake up. Once upstairs, it was brighter and warmer and Lance saw Shiro call a greeting to the stove.

“That’s Coran. He manages the kitchen here, no matter how hard we’ve tried to get him to do something else with his talents.” Lance didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just nodded. As they walked, Shiro pointed out various household members and a few rooms of interest before stopping in front of a set of blue doors.

“Here you go,” he said with a bow. “I must say, you’re taking all of this remarkably well.”

“I’m pretty convinced that I’m asleep, so you’re just a dream,” Lance replied. Only after he said that did he think about how that could come across as rude, but Shiro laughed.

“I wish it was just a dream. Sleep well, sir, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Lance bade him good night as well – he might be convinced he was asleep, but he didn’t want to be rude to his hallucinations – and entered the room. The sight of the bed made him realize just how tired he was, and he didn’t take in the rest of the room before he curled up under the blanket and fell fast asleep.

When he woke up, Lance immediately knew that he wasn’t at home – the bed was far nicer than his own. This quick realization meant that he remembered quickly where he was, and why, and he immediately got up to look outside.

He didn’t get far though, because the wardrobe was standing next to his bed and he nearly collided with it.

“Oh my! I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the wardrobe said. Looks like Shiro wasn’t a dream after all, Lance supposed. “I just wanted to wake you up before the Master got up so that I could get you dressed.”

“It’s fine,” Lance said. “And you don’t have to call me sir. I’m Lance. I think I’m going to be working here a while?”

The wardrobe opened its doors to start flicking through outfits. “Oh, hello Lance. I’m Allura. I’m the household’s seamstress and fighting instructor. Or,” she said, pulling out a shirt and pants that looked about Lance’s size. “I guess I _was_ the fighting instructor. It’s a bit hard to fight when you look like this,” she continued, handing Lance the clothes as she gestured to herself.

“Is the entire castle changed, then?” Lance asked, curiosity getting the better of himself as he stepped behind a screen to change clothes. At Allura’s affirmative, he continued. “You weren’t always like this, either?”

“Oh goodness, no,” Allura replied as he stepped back out. “Those look good on you, I’ll get my mice started on making you some new things today. What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue,” he responded immediately.

“Oh good, we’ll have to make sure we find something that compliments your lovely eyes,” Allura said, walking out the door with Lance.

“Thanks, but mice?”

“Oh, they’re the sewers under my authority as household seamstress. They’re still quite handy with their paws, so they’re still making clothes,” Allura responded.

Lance had a moment to think about how surreal his life had become overnight. He was an indentured servant to a beast of a creature whose household was filled with talking coatracks and wardrobes and now there were mice that sew. He supposed it definitely wasn’t a dream since he was now awake, but that didn’t make it any less weird.

“Shiro told me that you’ll be working with Coran in the kitchens today, can you find your way there?” Allura asked, bringing Lance out of his thoughts. He assured her that he could and descended the stairs as she continued on to wherever the Master’s rooms were. Lance wondered what sort of household object the Master had become.

Once inside the kitchens, Lance was greeted by Shiro again who gestured to the table. “Good morning, sir. Coran has some breakfast if you’re hungry. I should get going to my own work for the day.”

As he left, Lance turned to the stove to introduce himself. He had to bite back a laugh first, though, because the face on the stove had the most absurd-looking mustache on it thanks to the various dials and things. “Hello, Coran, I’m Lance.”

“Lovely to meet you, Lance!” Coran responded enthusiastically. “I’m glad to have your help down here. Now, eat up so that we can get to work!”

The breakfast was a porridge that was soupier than Lance preferred, but he wasn’t about to complain to the cook who could literally emit fire. Through the day, Lance and Coran chatted as they worked and Lance found that he liked the eccentric cooktop. He was entertained with wild stories that Lance was convinced had to be at least half made up but Coran told them with such enthusiasm that Lance wasn’t entirely sure after all.

That evening, they had dinner with Shiro and Lance was surprised to find that he’d actually enjoyed his day. Once he made it up to his room, he found a set of blue pajamas laid out on his bed. He thanked Allura, wherever she might have been in the house, and changed into them before falling asleep quickly.

The next two days were much the same with Lance working on cleaning the kitchens under Coran’s supervision. He didn’t meet any of the other household members, the beast, or the Master in all that time either. The third dinner together, Shiro complimented Lance’s work and said that it looked like he should move on since the kitchens were looking so good. So after that Lance worked on cleaning up the parlor – which is where he met Pidge.

When he first went inside, it was obvious that no one used that room much so he went to pick up some books that were on a side table. “Excuse you, I was reading those!” a voice stopped him. Jumping, Lance looked to the source of the voice and saw a clock frowning at him. “I’d like those back, please.”

“Of course, sorry about that,” Lance apologized, setting the books back down. “I’m Lance, what’s your name?”

“I’m Pidge,” the clock told him.

“What do you do around here?”

“Mostly read. I’m not one of the servants, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“What?” Lance hadn’t expected that. “But you’re a clock.”

“Your powers of observation astound me,” Pidge responded dryly. Lance couldn’t help but smirk. So that’s how it was going to be, was it? “I was just visiting when the change went down.”

“Why were you affected then?”

Pidge gave him a look, and Lance had never thought a clock could have such a judgmental look on its face. “You’re asking me to explain a magical occurrence that’s beyond explanation?”

Lance shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Who were you visiting then?”

“My brother,” Pidge told him. “He works here. He got turned into the piano downstairs. He’s Matt, whenever you meet him. He was never much of a music person, but he’s had time to become one.”

“How long have you all been like this?” Lance asked.

“Too long,” Pidge replied with a frown, going back to the books. Lance took that as a cue that the conversation was over and moved along to start cleaning the room. He first had to dust the bookshelves, and he let his fingers run along the spines of all the books. If he ever had a day off, he would have to come back here and do some reading.

On his route to the kitchens for dinner that evening, he passed a staircase leading to the third floor. He was immensely curious what was up there, but he was more hungry than curious at the moment so he decided to leave that exploration to another time. At dinner, he asked Shiro what was there.

“Oh, nothing,” the coatrack said, somehow managing to look nervous despite being made of wood. “It’s just the attic – dust and cobwebs everywhere. You won’t have to clean that; we wouldn’t make you.”

Lance didn’t entirely believe Shiro, but before he could press the door opened and Shiro leapt up. “Master! What are you doing down here?”

Lance turned, and felt his jaw drop when the beast stood there. The beast was the master?

The beast master shrugged. “I’m hungry, and you hadn’t brought my food yet.”

“Sorry,” Shiro hastened to apologize. “I’ll bring that right now.”

The master beast waved him off. “I’m here, it’s fine.” And he managed to surprise Lance even further by grabbing the tray and walking out with it. The way everyone in the household talked about the master, he hadn’t seemed like the type who would willingly carry his own food.

Shiro and Coran were distracted after that, so Lance took the opportunity to escape and do some exploration of the third floor. He didn’t want to be seen by any of the others, so he kept to the shadows and walked quickly up the stairs. He wasn’t greeted by dust and cobwebs, though. Instead what he saw was total destruction. Someone had taken sharp objects to almost everything in view, and Lance walked forward in a daze as he took in all that had been wrecked. He paused by a painting that had been shredded except for one spot where he could make out dark eyes. Were they purple? Blue? Grey? Lance was about to step forward to look closer when a glow caught his eye from a door to his left and he went that way instead. Inside that room was even more destruction, except for one table which held a covered rose. That was the source of the glow, and Lance walked closer. He removed the cover and reached out one finger to touch a petal when the door slammed open and he jumped back.

“What are you doing in here?” the beast demanded, rushing over to put the cover back on the rose.

“I was just looking–” Lance tried to explain himself, but the beast wasn’t allowing that.

“You could have ruined us all! Get out!”

“I didn’t know!” Lance defended himself, to no avail.

“I said get out!” the beast roared, and Lance hurried to the door.

He didn’t want to leave without getting one last word in, though. “Fine, I’ll get out. I’ll get so far out you’ll never have to see me again!” And with that he raced down the stairs and out the front door, only pausing long enough to grab a cloak against the night’s chill. He heard some of the others calling to him, but he didn’t wait to hear what they would say afraid that they would manage to convince him to stay the night at least and then he would still be trapped.

Once outside, however, he realized that he had an even bigger problem than the angry destructive beast inside. He had no idea where he was. Hunk’s horse had walked in circles before they even found this place, so he couldn’t even rely on his memory. Gritting his teeth, he picked a direction and started walking with the hopes that he would come across a town soon.

Hours later, he was still walking in the woods and had yet to see any signs of life. Wishing that he had grabbed a warm drink before storming out, Lance soldiered on – he wasn’t about to turn around and go back. No matter how close those wolves were sounding…

He was resolutely ignoring his stomach’s growling when he suddenly heard loud growling that wasn’t his stomach and was frighteningly close. He froze and looked to the sound and saw a large wolf eyeing him up. Lance hoped that if he didn’t move the wolf would move on, but no such luck. It howled to summon more of its friends and Lance’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t sure how he’d make it out of this one.

He saw a large branch and started edging towards it, hoping that he would get to it before the wolves attacked. He managed to get close enough that when the first wolf lunged he could jump to the side and grab the branch to use as a bat. He swung at the next wolf to try and attack, but the wolves were just too big and he didn’t have the best aim with his makeshift weapon. It broke quickly, and Lance closed his eyes to wait for the final attack. With his last breath, he whispered. “I’m sorry, Hunk.”

That final attack never came, though, and Lance breathed past his last breath. When he opened his eyes, the beast was there leaping at the wolves and roaring as he threw them aside. Lance watched a moment, amazed, before he got his wits back and began throwing rocks at the wolves to try and help the beast’s fight. He was much better at this – he hit many of the wolves in the eyes and that threw them off long enough that the beast was able to toss them aside. The fight was won, but when Lance looked to the beast to ask why he saw him collapse.

This was his chance! He could continue on and leave the mansion and its wild master behind! But…

But he couldn’t. Lance hurried to the beast’s side, relieved to see that he was still breathing. Lance rolled him over, and the beast blinked his eyes slowly.

“Can you stand?” Lance asked. The beast seemed to have trouble focusing on Lance, but he managed to nod. Lance helped him up, and then took one arm around his shoulders as they started their trek back to the mansion.

Their arrival was, as you might expect, hectic. Lance couldn’t get the beast up two flights of stairs, so Shiro took over and helped him to his room. Pidge was in the kitchens helping Coran get a tray ready so that someone could take care of the master, but they weren’t sure who would be able to do it. Lance stepped up and took the tray. “I’ve got it,” he said, leaving a surprised silence behind him.

When he got to the third floor, he wasn’t sure which door to enter but thankfully Shiro was exiting the one on his right and waved Lance over. “Thanks for bringing these up,” he said, moving to take the tray but Lance stepped around him and into the room.

“I’ve got it,” he repeated, kneeling at the side of the bed. The beast was watching him, so Lance started talking. “I’m Lance. What’s your name?” he asked as he got the wet cloths ready to clean out the wounds.

The beast was silent for a moment and Lance wondered if he would have to just talk to himself while he was caring for the guy, but eventually a response came. “Keith.”

One word. Lance supposed he could work with it. “Nice to meet you, Keith. You know, for real – you didn’t ask my name when you were locking me up downstairs,” he said, pressing a towel to the large gash on the beast’s – Keith’s – shoulder.

Keith might have wanted to respond to that one, but instead he let out a roar of pain. “I’m hurt enough, why are you making it worse?”

Lance frowned and responded in kind. “I’m trying to help! Do you think that those wolves sterilized their teeth before taking a bite out of you or should I just let the infection take root?”

“If you hadn’t left in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t have gotten bitten by wolves,” Keith muttered, potentially not wanting Lance to hear. But he did.

“Gee, I wonder why I left in the middle of the night? Oh yeah, because _you_ were yelling at me and I didn’t think I would be safe staying here another night!”

Keith frowned at that and didn’t respond, but he did move his arm so that Lance could get to the shoulder wound easily. Lance continued his cleaning, but didn’t want the silence to continue. “By the way… thanks for… you know… saving me. I… I really… appreciate it.”

When he looked back at Keith, the jerk was smiling. “Eloquent.”

“Shut up!” Lance said, unable to keep down a smile of his own. “You’re concussed; you probably wouldn’t be able to say anything better.”

Keith hummed in agreement before wincing as Lance continued his work. Soon enough, he was content and Keith was fading quickly. As Lance was picking the tray up, he heard a soft “Sorry” before Keith’s breaths evened out and he was asleep. Lance smiled and tucked him in before he exited the room.

There was an audience on the landing as Lance descended the stairs. Allura thanked him for taking care of Keith, Pidge said that she was glad Lance wasn’t dead, and Shiro took the tray from Lance’s hands. “If you still wish to leave, we can provide you with food and directions this time.”

It was tempting, Lance would be lying to himself if he said it wasn’t. But he had been raised to see things through, and he had grown fond of the household members. He could use cleaning the house as an excuse, but he really wanted to stay and help them figure out a way to be free of whatever curse they seemed to be under.

And if the loneliness that Lance saw in Keith factored into his decision, well he wasn’t about to admit that either.

“I think I’ll stay a little bit longer,” Lance replied. “I need to pay off my debt, after all.”

The smile that Shiro fixed him with said that he might have seen through that excuse, but Lance didn’t stay to let the coat rack test his new theory. Claiming exhaustion, he escaped to his room and fell asleep.

Time passed. Lance continued cleaning the mansion room by room, and was proud to see that his efforts were paying off when he would walk through a previously-cleaned room and not sneeze up a storm from the dust that had accumulated. He continued getting to know all of the household, including Matt who played a lovely piece for him. Had he not had the conversation with Pidge, he never would have guessed that Matt had never played music before he’d been turned into a piano.

The strangest change by far was that Lance started seeing Keith around the house more. He would walk by while Lance was cleaning a room, or walk in to grab a book when he and Pidge were reading up on how the curse might be broken. One day, Lance was reading alone when Keith walked into the parlor and absently scanned the books.

“Can you read?” Lance asked suddenly, his curiosity getting the better of himself. He winced. “Sorry, that sounded rude, but I am pretty sure that you’re really rich and usually really rich people hire tutors for their kids…”

Keith smirked at Lance’s rambling as he shrugged. “Yeah, I’m rich and yeah, I can read. I don’t read quite as much as you do, but I like to.”

Lance smiled, glad to have a conversation with Keith when he wasn’t suffering from a head injury. “Yeah, I’ve been told that I read way too much. But I’ll admit, there’s only so much reading about magic that I can handle.”

Keith nodded in understanding. “Is that all that’s down here? Well, Pidge did ask if she could have this room.”

Lance didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just nodded and put his book back with a sigh. He did kind of wish that he could read a story and not more magic tomes, but he supposed beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Keith evidently heard his sigh, and took Lance’s hand. Lance violently flinched at the feel of claws and immediately felt bad for that, but Keith either didn’t notice or ignored it. He led Lance to a room that Lance hadn’t yet explored, and Lance couldn’t hold back a gasp as Keith swung open the doors.

“There are a few more options in here, if you’re tired of magic,” Keith said calmly as he entered. Lance wasn’t even looking at him, he was too busy gaping at the three-story library that he somehow hadn’t been told about. There were more books here than he’d ever seen in his life, and he couldn’t believe it.

From that day, Lance spent all of his down time in the library. He was occasionally joined by another member of the house, but more often than not Keith was also there. They didn’t talk much at the start, just greetings and the occasional request from Lance for Keith to point the way to a section he couldn’t find. Eventually, though, they started talking more and Lance noticed that Keith would sit closer and closer to where Lance had staked a claim for the day. As they got to know each other more, Lance found himself really enjoying Keith’s company. He was glad that they knew each other better, and finally built up the courage to ask about the curse.

Keith gave a derisive snort when Lance tentatively brought it up. “That is a remarkably stupid story and I can’t believe no one’s told you yet.”

“They all said that it was your story to tell,” Lance explained, marking his spot in his book so that he could close it and focus on Keith.

Keith looked towards Lance, but Lance could tell that he wasn’t seeing the room. “Well, when I was younger I was even more brash than now, if you can believe it. There was this girl that wanted to marry me, but I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. So apparently she found a witch and sent the witch my way. One night there was a bad storm and that was when the witch made her appearance. Only she demanded to have a room for the night, and I was young and alone here and freaked out by this old woman demanding to be let in. So I yelled at her and threatened her. She said that I would have to learn to calm down and look past appearances to get anywhere, and so I was cursed. The girl stopped by again to see what the witch had done in her stead, and said that now I would never find a girl so I had better accept her. Jokes on her, I’d never find a girl even without this curse. Or I suppose that joke might be on me, now.”

Lance felt his eyes widen throughout the story and when Keith finished Lance gasped. “I can’t believe it – this entire household is cursed just because some girl felt scorned? That’s ridiculous!”

Keith just shrugged, but Lance could see the sadness in his eyes. He really didn’t think that there was any way out of this curse. Of course, with his comments about girls Lance was starting to have a hunch as to why.

“What were the witch’s exact words?” Lance asked, determined to figure this out. Keith looked at him in surprise, so Lance elaborated. “I’ve been reading a lot of books about magic with Pidge, and wording is everything. What did the witch say?”

Keith closed his eyes and recited. “Until you find someone who can care for and love you despite your looks, you’ll look like a monster. If you don’t find this someone before this rose wilts, you will be a monster forever.”

Lance felt a twinge of guilt, remembering how he had almost touched a rose. That must have been The Rose – no wonder Keith had been so worried. Who knows what might have happened. “Well,” he said, injecting levity into his voice to bring up the mood. “I hear no mention of a girl. The ignorant cow said girl, not the witch. The witch just said ‘someone’ – so you might be alright after all.”

The hope that brightened Keith’s face completely transformed it, and Lance felt his heart stutter. That was new.

The days continued to pass and they continued to talk and compare opinions on the books they were reading and Lance tamped down the new feeling in favor of being the friend that Keith so obviously needed. It wasn’t until Lance was almost done cleaning the ballroom that the next change happened.

He was in the rafters to scrub at the stained glass windows that lined the top of the room when he heard footsteps. Assuming it to be Shiro checking on him, Lance called down to him. “I’m almost done here, then I’ll need the lift down again.”

In lieu of a response, Lance heard a low whistle. When he looked down, instead of Shiro he saw Keith standing in the doorway. Lance’s hand slipped on the window and he whacked himself in the face with his towel. Sputtering the soap out of his mouth, Lance looked back to Keith and saw the man laughing. “Shut up,” Lance said.

“It looks amazing in here,” Keith took pity on Lance and moved on. “We should have a dance or something to celebrate.”

Lance jumped up, thankful that he had the space to stand up here. “That would be so much fun! Matt’s been working on a new song, and now I’m determined to get Pidge to dance. Let’s do it!”

Keith seemed surprised by the vehemence of his response, but he was saved from having to respond by Shiro’s entrance. Lance addressed him instead.

“Shiro, let’s have a dance in here! Coran can make a bunch of food that we don’t have to eat and Matt can play music and we can all dance!”

From this distance Lance couldn’t see Shiro’s face but he hoped it was smiling. “That sounds lovely, I’ll get to work on the planning. In the meantime, are you ready to come back down?”

Lance looked back to the window and scrubbed at a spot before determining that he was indeed done. When he looked back down to wave to Shiro for the pully, Keith had disappeared but Lance was so busy talking plans with Shiro that he barely noticed.

Almost the entire house was excited, the exception being Pidge. “I don’t dance. I’m a clock,” she insisted. Lance would hear none of it, promising to get her on the dance floor at some point if he had to perch her on his shoulders.

Allura was excited to be able to design Lance a dance-worthy outfit, and Lance told her that he wanted to be surprised by it.

The day of the dance arrived, and Lance was surprised by his outfit indeed. Allura had mostly been putting him in blue while he was here because of his eyes, so the brilliant yellow suit took him by surprise. He dressed reverently and then looked at himself in the mirror, playing with the lace cuffs, the frill coming from the undershirt, the shoulder decorations. Anything that his fingers could fiddle with he touched during his inspection.

“Allura, it’s amazing!” he gushed, giving the wardrobe a hug. It felt weird, but the sentiment got across.

“Now, now, don’t mess up your jacket!” she insisted, giving him a smile. “You’d better get downstairs; this is your party.”

Lance gave her a smile back before he left. He didn’t make it all the way downstairs, though, because at the stairs he was stunned to a stop by the sight of Keith. He had on a blue suit with yellow accents and a similar undershirt frill as Lance. Lance thought he detected a hint of matchmaking in Allura’s designs for the evening, but he couldn’t even find it in himself to be annoyed when they would obviously look so good together.

They met halfway down the stairs. Lance missed a step and stumbled so Keith took Lance’s hand and placed it on his arm. That was how they still were when they entered the ballroom, to the cheers of the other household members. Lance felt his face grow warm, but when he looked to Keith he saw that he wasn’t alone. They separated to go to the food table and Lance ate a little of everything that Coran wouldn’t be offended before Matt started up the music. Lance immediately grabbed Allura’s hand (or what he assumed was her hand) and led her on to the floor. They danced together and Keith danced with Shiro for that song. For the next song, Lance danced with Pidge on his shoulders and Coran led Allura through a slow waltz due to the size of both of their bodies. The next was Keith with Allura and Shiro with Pidge, so Lance got to take a break with Coran on the sidelines.

“Thank you, my boy,” Coran said. Lance looked to the stove in surprise and Coran chuckled. “You’ve brought hope back into the household. It’s a lovely thing to feel when you thought it was gone forever.”

Lance didn’t have a chance to respond before Coran left his side, so Lance was alone when he was looking over the room. He couldn’t help but compare it to dances back in town. While those were certainly livelier and louder, this one felt better because it was a group of good friends that were spending time together. Lance felt happy, and he felt that sense of belonging that he had missed ever since his parents had died.

He didn’t have long to reflect on that before Keith was approaching him, obviously egged on by the others. “Would you like to dance?” he asked, not quite meeting Lance’s eyes.

Lance beamed anyway. “I’d love to!”

Keith smiled when Lance took his hand, and Lance let himself be led onto the floor. Matt started up a song, and Lance recognized the opening bars of the song he had been working on. He was glad that he got to hear it while being whirled around in Keith’s arms. Without really knowing when, Lance had come to care deeply for the man, and he was fairly sure that if he let himself think about it any further he would stray dangerously into ‘Love’ territory. So he didn’t let himself think any further and instead enjoyed dancing with Keith while surrounded by friends.

Once that song was over, Lance realized that no one else had been dancing and looked to see if Keith knew. He was pretty sure that was a yes, as Keith gestured outside with his head and moved almost before Lance nodded. Outside, Lance sighed and let himself smile at the cool air. Keith was silent, and it was the sort of silence where the person was trying to build up courage to say something so Lance let him work.

“Are you happy here?” Keith asked at last, and Lance could hear the vulnerability in his voice.

That wouldn’t do, so Lance let his smile grow as he turned to face Keith. “I am.” A stray thought of Hunk intruded on his guilty conscience, though, and Lance felt his smile shrink slightly.

Keith saw that, and sighed. “Are you sure?” he asked, uncertain.

Lance nodded vehemently. “I am, I really am happy here. I just miss Hunk – he’s my best friend, and I want to know how he’s doing.”

Keith nodded, before brightening. “Wait, I have something that can help you. Come with me.”

They walked to the third floor and Keith rummaged around in the piles of debris before pulling out a handheld mirror. “This is a magic mirror,” he explained, holding it out to Lance. “It can show you anything you want to see.”

Lance took the mirror and saw a glimpse of himself – he really would have to compliment Allura again, he looked amazing – before he spoke. “Could you show me Hunk, please?” As he spoke, the mirror’s surface rippled and the view changed. Lance was ready to see Hunk at home with his family, so when it was dark and Hunk was surrounded by trees Lance gasped. Hunk was wandering around woods, looking for Lance. He felt that like a shot through the heart.

Keith must have seen something in his expression because he moved closer. Lance held out the mirror. “He’s looking for me, which means that his family is still on their own. Trading places with him did nothing.”

When he looked up, Keith had taken a step back and looked pained. “Then go take him home.”

“But, I’m not done here–” Lance said, but Keith cut him off.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Go to your friend.”

Lance continued to gape, so Keith pushed the mirror back into him. “Keep the mirror, so you can remember me.”

That snapped Lance out of his stupor, and he clutched the mirror close. “Thank you, Keith.”

Lance went back to his room to get changed into clothes more suited for travelling and exited the house quickly. The rest of the house was still in the ballroom, and he didn’t have the heart to tell them he was leaving. Thankfully, it didn’t take him long to find Hunk and the wolves hadn’t tried to attack either of them.

“Lance!” He heard Hunk’s yell before he saw his friend and then there were arms around him. Lance hadn’t realized how much he’d missed humans – when you live with a bunch of enchanted household objects, hugs just aren’t the same.

“Hunk!” he replied, wrapping his arms around his friend. “I’m alright, I promise.” Hunk still held him at arms’ length and looked him up and down.

“Well, I guess you are. I’m so glad that I found you,” Hunk continued as they started back towards the village.

Shay also gave Lance a huge hug when they made it to Hunk’s house, and insisted that Lance’s sacrifice was appreciated but that he shouldn’t do that again. They had a happy reunion before Hunk’s fatigue took over and Lance promised to be back in the morning.

Alone in his own home, Lance felt the weight of the evening. He was pretty sure that he was in love with Keith. Keith had sent him away to get Hunk. Lance had no idea how much longer the rose had, but he had to find his way back to the mansion to tell Keith about his feelings soon – hopefully the man felt the same, but even if he didn’t then hopefully Lance’s feelings would be enough to break the curse and then he could return here and wallow in self-pity.

Plan in place, Lance found that he couldn’t fall asleep. He had grown used to the sounds and feeling of a larger house, his own was too quiet.

Lance spent the entirety of the next day with Hunk and Shay and their family. In the evening, they all went into town to get some ingredients for dinner and were accosted by the townspeople.

“Lance!” “He’s back!” “What happened to you?” “It’s been so long!” “Hunk was talking about how you’d been kidnapped by some beast?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, that’s what happened. But I’m back now.”

Many of the people rolled their eyes. The baker spoke up. “Sure, a beast. What actually happened?”

Maybe it was the fact that Lance had spent time in a place where he wasn’t considered odd, but he wasn’t having it any more. “That’s what happened,” he told the baker, pulling the magic mirror out of his waistband. “And here’s the proof! Show me Keith, please.”

Many eyes widened at his talk of proof, but every eye widened when the mirror showed them a picture of Keith. “Oh my god!” “They’re telling the truth!” “That creature lives close to us!” “Who knows what will make it stop!”

Lance tried to assure them that Keith wasn’t a threat, but the baker took the mirror and spoke louder. “We have to protect ourselves!”

“No!” Lance cried, bringing attention back to himself. The baker shoved him inside a tavern closet and barred the door.

“He’s been bewitched – we can’t have him warning the thing!”

Lance hoped that Hunk and Shay had gotten the little ones out of the warpath as the mob moved to grab whatever weapons it could and left the village towards the mansion. Lance tried to open the door, but there was nothing inside the closet to help him. Throwing himself at the door did nothing, and Lance was quickly out of options. He couldn’t just let something happen to Keith but there was nothing he could do – and this was all his fault.

Lance felt the beginnings of despair setting in, but he couldn’t dwell for too long because there was a noise on the other side of the door. Before Lance could call for help, the door swung open to reveal Hunk.

“You’d better get going, you’ll need to take my horse if you want to catch up.”

Lance threw himself at his friend and wrapped him in a quick hug before running out the door and promising to be back. He rode through the woods and was able to follow the village mob’s trail, but he didn’t catch up before the trail led to the mansion. Lance hoped that the inhabitants had been able to barricade themselves inside, but no such luck. Pidge was waiting for him on the steps.

“Lance! Hurry – Keith led them away from us like a self-sacrificing moron and the rose is down to its last pedal! You have to find him!”

Lance wasted no time in running around to the back of the mansion where he saw the mob had cornered Keith. He looked injured, but determined. Lance was just glad to see that he was alive, but then a gunshot rang out and Keith dropped.

“No!” Lance screamed, pushing through the people to get to Keith. He heard murmurings behind him, but he didn’t pay them any mind.

Keith’s breathing was shallow, but he managed to smile at Lance. “Hey, you’re back. I figured you’d be here.”

“Of course I’m back, I was always going to come back,” Lance replied, reaching out to push Keith’s hair out of his face. Keith jolted when Lance touched him like an electric sock went through him.

“Oh my god, you’re actually here, why are you here, you can’t get hurt, you’ll get hurt if you’re here…” He tried getting up, but Lance pushed him back down.

“No don’t get up, the mob is all leaving,” Lance promised, fixing the last stragglers with a glare to send them away. Once they were gone, Lance returned his attention to Keith.

“Lance,” Keith spoke, but Lance barreled over him.

“This is all my fault, I need to get a clean cloth, we need to clean these wounds, oh my god I’m so sorry, here put pressure on this one to stop the bleeding.”

Rather than put pressure on his wound, Keith reached up to cup Lance’s face. That effectively shut him up – Lance could feel the tears starting to flow.

“It’s alright – I’m just glad I got to see you one more time. I love you. Would you apologize to everyone for me?” he asked, voice getting quieter and quieter.

“Tell them yourself,” Lance insisted, even as he felt Keith’s hand drop from his face. “You come tell them yourself because you’re going to be fine because I love you too and you can’t leave me!”

But Lance knew that Keith had already left him – he had been too late. Lance dropped his head onto Keith’s chest to cry – how was he supposed to face Shiro and everyone? What was he supposed to do now? Keith had shown him a better way to live – he couldn’t go back now, Keith couldn’t leave him.

Because he wasn’t looking around him, Lance didn’t notice how the air started shimmering until Keith’s body raised off the ground – effectively shocking Lance out of his tears. He scrambled back as Keith was obscured by smoke and lights until he dropped back to the ground and groaned. Utterly transfixed, Lance reached out a hand but pulled it back when the body moved. It stood up, and Lance saw it look around in confusion before whirling around.

“Lance! Are you alright? Did– did you get taller?” As the man got closer, Lance saw a pair of eyes that he couldn’t place the color of before a human hand took his own. That made them both look down, the man in utter confusion and Lance recognized that facial expression.

“No, but you got shorter,” Lance told him, pulling Keith’s attention back to his face. “You could have mentioned that you were actually short, I thought you’d be taller.”

Keith laughed and Lance treasured that sound. “That’s what you’re getting from all of this?” he asked, looking incredulous. Lance couldn’t help it – he pulled Keith’s face up into a kiss. He could feel Keith’s surprise, but before he could back out and apologize Keith wrapped his own arms around Lance and deepened the kiss.

They might have stayed there for longer but a tactful clearing of a throat nearby made them spring apart. A man stood watching them with a smirk, and Lance wondered who this was. He was tall and broad-shouldered with a fake arm and scar on his face. Upon seeing Keith, however, his face split into a genuine smile and Keith rushed at him for a hug.

“Your highness, it’s so good to see you looking like yourself again,” the man said, and Lance recognized Shiro’s voice. But he also called Keith…

Keith pulled back and made a face. “Shiro, you know I hate it when you call me that. I doubt I’ll be let back in anyways, I’m not–”

“A prince?” Lance shouted, looking at Keith. “You’re a prince?”

Keith just scowled, so Shiro took over. “He’s technically exiled, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a prince.”

“Yes it does,” Keith said. “I’m not a prince because I’m not at court or anything – exiled means no more titles.”

“You said that you were rich,” Lance said.

Keith looked nervous when he turned back to Lance. “Well, I am. But there’s a reason for it.”

He looked extremely nervous as to Lance’s reaction, so Lance walked over and put a hand on either side of his face. “You mean to tell me that I have missed out on making royalty jokes this whole time? I just hope you’re ready for even more jokes going forward to make up for that.”

Keith wrinkled his nose, but when Lance kissed the wrinkles away his smile was radiant.

Lance met the rest of the household as humans, and introduced Hunk to everyone as his friend had followed Lance. Keith apologized to Hunk, and Lance had the extreme pleasure of seeing his best friend welcomed into his new family.

In short order, Lance was moved in and Hunk hired as chef. Coran was offended for a day, but they finally convinced him that his true calling was running the household since Shiro really didn’t want to do that anymore.

Lance was sure that he couldn’t be happier, until the day he was dancing with Keith and felt a gentle pressure on his hand. Keith was putting a ring on his finger, and asking if he would like to get married.

They whirled as if on air, knowing that even with what they’d already been through the best was yet to come.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I played a little loose with some characterizations because I needed the characters to fit in Beauty and the Beast. Hopefully they're all still good.
> 
> Also I would have written the rest of the household as humans telling off the mob, but that started to drag and I needed the story to end. Just know that it happened and Allura was especially terrifying.
> 
> The art is by the amazing [Elentori on tumblr](https://elentori-art.tumblr.com/post/159113724017/first-draft-of-designs-for-my-version-of). Ever since I saw it I wanted to do a Beauty and the Beast AU for these two.
> 
> Me thinking up a title: hm, what's my favorite BatB song lyric?  
> Answer: 'Here we come we're fifty strong - and fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong!'  
> Me: maybe not that one...
> 
> I has a [tumblr](http://ayrabelle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
